


waking

by cacowhistle



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Post Episode 27, Temporary Character Death, found family sort of, its kind of hurt/comfort???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 14:56:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15367113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cacowhistle/pseuds/cacowhistle
Summary: Telling the rest of the group definitely isn't easy.





	waking

They've fought for this moment, and Beau nearly collapses once she sees her friends. Yasha, Jester, Fjord, all of them in separate cells, but they're there, they're okay, they're alive.

She blinks back tears, rushing to get the cells open - fiddling with the keys and cursing under her breath as she tries to move as quickly as she can. Nott begins picking the lock on Jester's cell while Caleb smashes in the bars of Yasha's cell, and Beau manages to swing open the door to Fjord's.

And when the restraints are thrown to the ground and the gags are torn out and the tears are shed as they all embrace and laugh, the question comes too quickly.

"Where's Molly?" Yasha demands, her voice soft and concerned.

Beau's mouth snaps shut, and Nott is already hiding behind Caleb's coat as the man exchanges nervous glances with Beau.

"He, um." Beau looked down, taking a deep breath. "Molly died fighting the Shepherds. About a week and a half ago."

Had it only been that long? Just a week or so?

Beau didn't hear Yasha's response, but she glanced up as the aasimar's eyes went black, her voice low and pained.

"I'm sorry, Yasha, it's - we couldn't do anything until we got you guys out, but - but we know where he's buried, we can go and get him and then pay a cleric to resurrect him, it'll - it'll be okay." Nott tried to sound reassuring, but her hands were shaking.

"It's okay, we know you guys were in a difficult position." Fjord's voice was strained. "It's… it's a shame he wasn't here to help."

"He'll be here soon, I promise, Yasha." Beau murmured, still not meeting her gaze.

"We will bring him back." Caleb sounded forceful. "Ophelia will help us, I'm sure of it. She may require a favor afterwards, but we will get him back."

"What if she doesn't help us?" Jester spoke for the first time, her voice soft and hoarse as it broke the uneasy quiet.

Caleb's expression hardened. "We are a team. We leave no-one behind."

Beau caught the hint of a smile on Nott's face at Caleb's words, and couldn't help but smile a bit to herself.

"Yeah. We're a family." She nudged Jester playfully. "Molly's what tied us together in the first place. We aren't letting him go that easily, even if he's fucking hot ghosts in the afterlife or something. He still has to deal with us."

Jester giggled a bit at that, despite the tears that were freely running down her cheeks. Fjord put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a one-armed hug, shooting an appreciative glance to Beau.

"Now, we have a man to kill." Caleb's voice was cold, startling Beau. "Lorenzo is still alive up there. I want to watch him burn."

"I want to kill him." Yasha growled. "I'm going to cut off his fucking head and mount it on the cart."

"That's the fucking spirit." Beau smiled grimly. "Let's go."

\---

The fight isn't taxing with all six of them, and Keg, and Nila.

The flames lick the sides of Lorenzo's chin as he snarls with pain, wildly swinging his glaive with desperation. Caleb feels distant, like he's not really there, as he watches Lorenzo burn. He feels two different hands holding onto his own, and he grips them a little tighter. The smaller hand rubs circles into the back of his hand, while the other gives his hand a reassuring squeeze.

Caleb can't help but laugh with relief as the flames die down, and Yasha decapitates Lorenzo right in front of them all with her blackened eyes and hair, her wings stretched out entirely.

It's a dark sort of happiness that fades at the scent and the sight of the burnt body, and Caleb takes a moment to be sick and have a panic attack before they leave Lorenzo there, dead - and take his head with them.

Caleb is in no state to negotiate right now, but he does it anyways.

Ophelia seems to see how exhausted and worn down he is, because she's fairly easy on him. They speak in Zemnian, and she is polite and understanding and a little comforting. She tells him of another temple, further south. She denies his offer of a favor, merely insisting that they send the priest her regards.

Caleb takes another moment once they are out of sight and earshot to be sick and have a panic attack before they head on.

They leave Shady Creek Run better than they found it, with a little more order and the slavers dead, and Caleb is pleased, and knows Mollymauk would be, too.

\---

The ritual feels awkward without the body, Nott thinks, but the spell doesn't require it, and if they had gone back to get it they would've run out of time. They assure the priest that he will be okay when he wakes, he isn't buried too far from the temple, after all, and he's clawed his way out of the ground before - and they'll be there for him, this time.

It's awkward but emotional, personal - the way the Mighty Nein operates. Beau cries the hardest, which is surprising to Nott. Caleb is rather stone-faced, stoic in the face of it all. Fjord gets choked up, but handles it well. Jester cries, too, and Yasha is quiet and calm and everything on her face tells of her sorrow.

Nott pours out some alcohol for Molly.

It's what he would want, she thinks.

"I'm gonna steal from a happy person." She mumbles, kicking at the dirt. "But this happy person deserves it."

"I'm gonna steal death from you, Molly." She giggles a bit, a little hysterical and more than a little drunk. "Because you don't need it."

And that's all she manages to say before she starts to sob.

\---

Yasha doesn't believe it until she sees the grave - but the terror is replaced with relief as she realizes that the grave is empty, and sitting next to it, bundled in his coat, is Mollymauk Tealeaf, shaking like a leaf with his head in his hands.

She sees his lips moving silently, catches the word _empty_ and winces, rushing forward to crouch in front of him.

"Mollymauk." She murmurs, lifting his chin so he looks at her, and his eyes are glassy and far away but recognition flickers in them and he lets out a sob, burying himself in Yasha's arms. She hugs him tightly, rubbing his back and running her hands through his hair to calm him, like she used to when they were first speaking to each other, back when he had nightmares every night.

"Y-Yasha." He whimpers, his voice soft and hoarse and scared. "I-I-"

"Shh," She murmurs, pressing a kiss to his forehead, the way he always does with her. "It's alright."

He falls quiet, crying into her shirt, and slowly the rest of the Nein settles around the two of them, and cry tears of relief when he recognizes them all.

They are family, Yasha thinks. And family is never left behind.


End file.
